Sneak Peek

A giveaway is coming, this Friday,
in honor of my 2nd anniversary in blogging.

I'm excited!

A little tip...

If you're going to get all clever and label your flour and sugar containers it's really helpful if you label them correctly.



And to think I was so proud of myself as these had gone unlabeled for 10 years.

I've got a packed week-end. Play/sewing date tomorrow morning. Play-date/babysitting in the evening. Doing some big batch cooking of lasagna and meatloaf. I'm working up the nerve to do a Once-A-Month-Cooking day in March. I know I'd enjoy doing a lot of cooking at once (with little interruption) and having a freezer full of meals. The 4-6pm hours are the toughest part of my day lately and unless I use my crock pot I often can't start dinner until David gets home. And he's been working late a lot.

I hope you all have a wonderful week-end! The sun is shining here, the temps are rising and the days are getting longer. It's amazing the effect that can have on your mood.

sweet Tea clothier & shoppe

The blog, 60 piggies, will soon need to be changed to 70 piggies.

"We desire to become a family for at least one of these children, to wash behind her ears and persuade him to eat his peas and sing her to sleep at night." ~Nicole Owens

While we're on the subject of adoption, I wanted to spotlight another amazing family that has embarked on their journey to bring their child home. If you haven't been reading Nic's blog, you need to start today. She is simply delightful. Oh and she sews, handstamps jewelery, takes great pictures and has the largest vocabulary of anybody I know. And...she's the maker of possibly my most favorite pattern. Ever. The softie doll tutorial (I've made 4 myself). And guess what! She's giving one away. A custom one at that. And to give you slightly better odds, I'm not even entering to win since I just won her cupcake aprons. Run over to her blog, right here, and enter to win a custom dollie of your very own.

Or you can snatch these gals up in her shop. Here and here.

Be sure to check out both of her Etsy shops. She's got some beautiful clothing and aprons (and of course the dollies^) over at sweetTeaclothier and some gorgeous and reasonably priced handstamped jewelry and photographs at sweetTeashoppe . My favorite piece is the stamped guitar pic. All profit will go toward bringing home their next child.

Here's some trivia for ya. Did you know that Nic and Jenn used to be a part of the same design group on eBay, way back when? It was called Head to Heels {H2H}. Yep, I was paying attention. ;)

Thank you Jenn and Nic (and your families) for being Jesus to two precious children. And for giving us the opportunity to help you get there. You are both heroes to me.

Take A Bow

Do you know Jenn? She's the very creative mom of 3 adorable and extremely photogenic kiddos (with one on the way). I first noticed Jenn when she was designing her Take A Bow boutique creations on eBay. In fact she was the first major designer I noticed and is the reason I started sewing for my girls. I loved her style and still do. She is the "it" girl in my book. She is now running a successful photography business and her blog is full of gorgeous photos. Get ready to be inspired and visit her here. But do you know what I love about her the most? Her heart.

Jenn and her family are in the midst of their journey to bringing home their next child, from halfway around the world. You could say she is "paper" pregnant. He or she will be born in Ethiopia and they can't wait to meet their new baby. She has opened up shop again for the express purpose of raising funds to bring their baby home. Take a look at her Etsy shop. All profits will go towards their travels to Ethiopia. She will be keeping it stocked so check back often for new listings as she makes her way through her extensive fabric stash.

Please join me in helping them bring baby #4 home to their forever family. Here's the cute skirt I bought just this morning. I love it!

Visit Take A Bow on Etsy right here.

Randomness

David was trying to explain this commercial to me since I had only seen the last 5 seconds of it. Have you seen it? He thought it was pretty funny but I couldn't see how it would be funny at all. Until I saw it for myself. Mary has a good explanation for why they did this. I'm sorry David. You were right. It's hilarious!



David would like to know why I store feminine products in the fridge. Seriously Aldi, you need to change your packaging!



Did you know it's really difficult to give up sugar when you make 2 batches of cookies? I mean really, did I think this was going to be easy? Why do I torture myself? But the girls wanted to make cookies and I'm trying to be a "Yes" Mom.



At least most of it is being flash frozen and will be stored in freezer bags for when we need a fresh batch of cookies. When that will be, I have no idea. Especially since the Girl Scout cookies arrived this week-end too.



I made Monster Cookies because I had coconut on hand and the addition of Rice Krispies intrigued me. They were fabulous! So I've been told. ;) I also made Five Chip Cookies which are peanut butter based. If you need some new cookie recipes in your binder, print these out. You'll love them.

Hmmm, what to do about these? Thank goodness Bible study is this week.



And now I am going to go torture myself again. I promised the girls we could go sledding during Sam's 2nd nap. Lord help me. I can only half walk as it is, so if I'm able to walk at all when we're done, I'll consider it a miracle.



Anyone want to come and take my girls sledding for me? Say, in the next 5 minutes? I'll pay you in cookies.